Action-controller for automatic pianos.



F. O. GAMBLE. ACTION CONTROLLER FOR AUTOMATIC PIANOS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 19, 1911.

Patented Oct. 15, 1912.

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APPLICATION FILED AUG. 19, 1911.

Patented Oct. 15, 1912.

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FREDERICK O. GAMBLE, OF FORT WAYNE, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO THE PACKARDCOMPANY, OF FORT WAYNE, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

ACTION-CONTROLLER FOR AUTOMATIC PIANOS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK O. GAMBLE, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Fort Wayne, in the count-y of Allen and State ofIndiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAction-Controllers for Automatic Pianos, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to action controlling means for pneumaticallyactuated automatic pianos.

The object of the invention is to provide automatically operable n'ieansgoverned by the amount of collapse or tension on the reservoir bellowsfor controlling the operation of the action of the piano.

To these ends my improvements comprise means illustrated in the drawingsaccompanying this specification wherein Figure 1 is a plan view of aportion of an automatic player piano to which my improvements areapplied. Said plan view is looking in the direction of arrow A in Fig. 2and with the parts above line 2, 2 removed. Fig. 2 is a front elevationcorresponding with Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 is a side elevation in which areshown the connections to the piano action. Figs. 4 to 6 inclusiveillustrate different positions in the operation of a portion of myimproveddevice.

The usual tension or reservoir bellows 3 has back 4 thereof fixedrelatively to the case of the instrument, as by bracket 5, and front 6is hinged to back 4 in the usual manner not shown. Fixed to upwardlyextending ear 7 of back 4 or to any other suitable fixed support, isspring 8, the free end 9 thereof extending diagonally across the head ofsaid bellows, Fig. 1, for engagement with ear 10 of bellows front 6 onone side and with head 13 of plunger 12 on the other side. Said car 10may be provided with bearing block 11 for rolling contact with saidspring 8. Said plunger 12- is slilably mounted in bracket 14 attached to"bellows back 4 or to some other convenient fixed portion of theinstrument. Pivotally mounted in bracket 15 depending from keybed 16 isa bell-crank lever, arm 17 of which reaches downwardly for engagementwith the inner portion of plunger 12 and the other arm 18 thereofextends outwardly in a general horizontal direction for connection withvertical rod 19. Said arm Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 19, 1911.

Patented Oct. 15,1912.

Serial No. 644,919.

18 and rod 11), might well be directly connected but to obviate materialchanges in the established arrangement of the parts of the player pianoI have introduced several connecting members between said arm and red,as follows. Pivoted to side 20 of the instrument case is lever 21, theouter end of which is connected by link 22 with arm 18 and rod 19 isflexibly connected to ear 23 of lever 21. Sprin 24 connects lever 21with the underside of keybed 16 and rod 19 has stop collar 25 thereon inengagement with said underside of keybed 16.

Pivoted in suitable position at 26 above keybed 16 is the usualcontinuous hammer rest rail 27. Extending forwardly from said hammerrest rail is arm 28 to the outer end of which is pivotally attached theupper end of rod 19. Pivoted eoaxially at 26 with main hammer rest rail27 and resting against said rail as a backing, is divided hammer restrail 30. Against said divided rail 30 rest the usual hammers as 31pivoted at 32 to the usual support not shown.

By 29 is indicated in a general way one of a pair of the usualpneumatics for throwing upwardly and rearwardly the two portionsrespectively, as 30 of the divided hammer rail. Said pneumatic 29comprises the usual bellows 33 fixed to the under side of valve box 34.Said valve box is provided with pipe 35 leading from the exhaust chestnot shown and pipe 36 leading from the usual key operated air admissionvalve not shown. Bottom 37 of bellows 33 has ear 38 fixed to its movableend and the upper end of link 39 is pivoted to said car at 41. Link 39has slot 40 in its lower end in sliding engagement with pivot 42 fixedin the outer end of arm. 43 of one section of divided rest rail 30.

Pivotally mounted at 44 in car 45 outstanding from a fixed portion ofpneumatic 29 is a bell-crank having its horizontal arm 46 connected bylink 47 to hammer rest rail 27 and having its depending arm 48 movableinto and out of the upward path of ear 38 on bottom 37 of bellows 33. Itwill be understood that the other section of divided rest rail 30 isprovided with a pneumatic corresponding with pneumatic 29 and itsadjuncts including links 39 and 47 and the parts connected with thelower ends of those links. I have also provided manually operable meansfor increasing the force of the strokes of the hammers as 31 byincreasing the length of those strokes. This means comprises pull rod 51having handle on the forward end thereof and having its rearward endpivotally connected at 52 with lever 53 pivoted at 5 1 to the undersideof key-bed 16. The other end of said lever 53 engages the front side ofarm 17 of hellcrank 17, 18.

The operation of my improved controller is as follows: The several partsbeing at rest as shown in Fig. 3, either section of divided rest rail 30may be thrown backwardly to shorten the strokes of those hammers 31which it controls, by causing bel lows 33 of pneumatic 29 to collapse asin Fig. 6. Bottom 37 is thereby swung upwardly its full stroke, theslack of slot d0 taken up and arm 43 and its section of divided rail 30swung on pivot 26, thereby moving hammers as 31 from position 57 todotted position 56, Fig. 3 (see also Fig. 6). again, assuming that theseveral parts are in the positions of Fig. 3 and that by vigorouspumping, bellows 3 is collapsed so far as to cause ear 10 to engagespring 8 and through said spring to move plunger 12 endwise and throughthe several described connections to pull rod 19 downwardly and thusrock main hammer rest rail 27 to the position of Fig. 1. Both sectionsof divided hammer rest rail 30 W111 follow said main rest rail, pivot 42of as moving freely downwardly in slot ll) of link 39, and hammers 31will swing forwardly to positions corresponding with dotted position 58,Fig. 3. At the same time, bell-crank 4.6, 48 connected to main hammerrest rail 27 by link 4-7, will be swung on its pivot 4st and arm 48thereof moved into the upward path of car 38 of bottom 3'? of bellows 3,all as shown in Fig. 1. It now, the several parts being in the positionsof Fig. 4-, pneumatic 29 be operated, ear 38 thereof will be stopped inits upward movement by arm 48 and that section of divided hammer restrail 30 linked thereto will be swung backwardly only a portion of itsmaximum stroke there by moving its hammers 31 back to their normalpositions corresponding with position 57 of Fig. 3 all as shown in Fig.5. By this arrangement, it will be seen that it is possible to producethe normal difference of accentuation between the bass and treble notesirrespective of the degree of general accentuation.

In view of the foregoing description of operation the action of themanually operated pull rod 51 will be easily understood. l i hen saidrod 51 is pulled forwardly by button 50 lever 53 is swung on pivot 5dand end 55 of said arm swings arm 17 backwardly and through theconnecting parts, pulls rod 19 downwardly, in every respect the same asthat rod is pulled downwardly from the maximum collapse of bellows 3 andproducing the same results as described above herein.

1 claim 1. An action controller for automatic pianos including incombination, a reservoir bellows, a pivotally mounted main hammer restrail, a pivotally mounted divided hammer rest rail, a divided hammerrest rail ac tuating pneumatic and means actuated by the swinging of themain hammer rest rail for limiting the collapse of the divided hammerrest rail actuating pneumatic.

2. An action controller for automatic pianos including in combination, apivotally mounted main hammer rest rail, a pivotally mounted dividedhammer rest rail, a divided hammer rest rail actuating pneumatic andmeans actuated by the swinging of the main hammer rest rail for limitingthe collapse of the divided hammer rest rail actuating pneumatic.

3. An action controller for automatic pianos including in combination, areservoirbellows, a pivotally mounted main hammer rest rail, a pivotallymounted divided hammer rest rail, means actuated by the collapse of saidbellows for swinging the main ham mer rest rail and means operativelyconnected with the main hammer rest rail for limiting the stroke of thedivided hammer rest rail actuating pneumatic.

Signed this 10th day of Aug. 1911 before two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK O. GAMBLE.

lVitnesses V]. N. VVIEBKE, J. M. KUHNS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

